St. George, UT -- Known for it’s beautiful landscapes and for being kind of close to Zion. Something not associated with it is the underground music scene but there are many pushing to bring it to the forefront.
With popular local venues for touring artists gone, such as Jazzy’s, GoGo 37 or The Electric Theatre no longer wasting time with promoting music, it has been left to local artists to keep pushing to get better community support as well as support from other bands in the area.
Venues (And lack thereof)
To get a better sense of the venue situation in the community, I talked to Zane Watrous, lead singer of Shine Bright, a local Post-Hardcore band that believes the attempts by the city to keep its small town feel is one of the the reasons for lack of growth in the scene.
“The single most frustrating thing I've noticed is the seemingly deliberate attempt of the city to rid St. George of its music scene," Zane said, adding that the closure of Jazzys seemed fishy. “Every time something grows, the head of the snake gets removed, and things die down for a period until another sturdy venue comes around. I believe it is more or less an attempt to keep this city's ‘small town feel’ and appease its largest demographic.” Referring to the retired religious base in St. George.
St. George is one of the fastest growing cities in the country with a 3.1 percent annual growth rate - the fastest rate in Utah and sixth-fastest in the country. So why does the local population want to make sure that we have a shiny small town image when it is not necessarily the case?
We need to adapt to the change that is coming to our little town.
Community
Another problem in St. George is fans of the music scene here in St. George are very dedicated to certain bands but does not stick around to shows to support other bands of touring bands.
Steven Lee of the band Aura Surreal says: “Of course we all say we support one another but remember, everyone is trying to ‘make it’ to a certain extent and those bands and their fans are there for that group's set ... most the time leaving whenever another group goes on, which is extremely frustrating.”
The few times he has seen full audiences stick around are for are Battle of the Bands, because they have to stay if they want their band to win.
In contrast, Watrous believes that St. George music is a very tight knit group and band members often crossover into joining multiple other bands.
One thing that they all can agree on is there needs to be a larger fanbase if they plan to stay afloat. This rapidly growing town is the perfect breeding ground for that.
Call to Action
The St. George underground music scene cannot survive without the support of locals like you. So get out there and follow band pages on social media. Check out venues like Studio Allegro that are trying to fill the void left by all of those venues that came before it.
When this generation decides that its art and music are just as important as those 400 paintings of the red rocks out in Kayenta, the local population will have no choice but to get with the times or get left behind in what has the potential to be a massive scene.